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/ˌɪnstrəmˈɛntəl/ /ˌɪnstrəmˈɛnəl/ Listen

adjective

Instrumental adj.

Acting as an instrument; serving as a means; contributing to promote; conductive; helpful; serviceable; as, he was instrumental in conducting the business. "The head is not more native to the heart, The hand more instrumental to the mouth."

(Mus.) Pertaining to, made by, or prepared for, an instrument, esp. a musical instrument; as, instrumental music, distinguished from vocal music. "He defended the use of instrumental music in public worship." "Sweet voices mix'd with instrumental sounds."

(Gram.) Applied to a case expressing means or agency; as, the instrumental case. This is found in Sanskrit and Russian as a separate case, but in Greek it was merged into the dative, and in Latin into the ablative. In Old English it was a separate case, but has disappeared, leaving only a few anomalous forms.

Instrumental errors, those errors in instrumental measurements, etc., which arise, exclusively from lack of mathematical accuracy in an instrument.

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Etymology of 'Instrumental'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Instrumental" Quotes from Famous Books

... the best living performers, vocal and instrumental, and to a finer voice than yours I never listened; but you need study and practice, for your execution is faulty. You have a splendid instrument; but you do not yet understand its ...

— Vashti - or, Until Death Us Do Part • Augusta J. Evans Wilson

... know him through his place in the world of affairs. Personally I have met him only a few times. You may know, perhaps, that he was instrumental in placing little Aileen Armagh, the orphan child,—you know whom I mean?—at Mrs. Champney's, your aunt, Mrs. ...

— Flamsted quarries • Mary E. Waller

... to show him my revolver. Finally, he partly realised the situation. He was taken up, carried into Suakin, carefully attended to, fed upon a milk diet, and, in the end, recovered and returned to his Uncle Osman and the dervishes. It has always been upon my mind that I was therein instrumental in furnishing a dervish recruit to the cause of furious anarchy, and I am relieved to think Mousa is not without compunction, if not a decent modicum of conscience. But your proper Hadendowa ...

— Khartoum Campaign, 1898 - or the Re-Conquest of the Soudan • Bennet Burleigh

... willed it, he was instrumental in bringing the quest to a close, and most unexpectedly. Peter Petrofsky was relieving his brother at the telescope, when the odd man, who had not taken his eyes from the field glasses, suddenly ...

— Tom Swift and his Air Glider - or, Seeking the Platinum Treasure • Victor Appleton

... blindly self-confident, and had fallen into the trap set for him in Paris. He was not unwilling to gratify Josephine, he despised Godoy, and his evident friendship for the crown prince had been largely instrumental in creating the popular confidence that France would regenerate Spain by ...

— The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte - Vol. III. (of IV.) • William Milligan Sloane

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